search

Napster Fading Fast?

Andy Warhol's famous dictum—that eventually, everyone will enjoy 15 minutes of fame—could apply equally to Internet startups.

By the "15 minutes" standard, Napster has enjoyed nine lives. Not that long ago, the music file-sharing service was front-page news almost every day of the week. Castigated by the entertainment industry as a harbinger of new distribution models that threatened the very foundations of market capitalism, Napster has been under continuous legal attack for almost two years.

The agonizingly slow litigation process has eroded the startup's celebrity and diminished…

Added to the Archives This Week:

There is practically nothing that has set high-end audio on its collective ear like the article Jonathan Scull wrote back in 1994 on room-tuning devices from Shun Mook. Not only did some readers dog-pile J-10, but two other Stereophile writers, Barry Willis and Sam Tellig, decided to take on the challenge. Required reading for anyone who wants to know more about The Shun Mook Affair.

Just one year ago, Stereophile published Martin Colloms' overview of negative-feedback technology in audio amplifier design. We've also included follow-up letters from several readers and notable amplifier…

Added to the Archives This Week:

Our first article this week is Illusions, Riddles, & Toys, in which Barry Willis explains what Zeno's paradox has to do with audio nirvana. "We audiofools face just such a riddle in our relentless pursuit of musical realism. I can hear you now: No, say it isn't so. Surely our technology is equal to the task. I'm sorry to tell you that it isn't, and probably never will be."

Next, Stew Glick advises audiophiles not to listen to their systems for a week in As Easy as ABC. Read the article and find out why it may be the solution to your audio problems.

Overwhelmed by the sheer…

Lucent Digital Radio Gets a Boost

It's been a busy week for Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) pioneers Lucent Digital Radio. (See previous report.) The company has announced that a new entity, Lucent Digital Radio, Inc., has been created as a result of an investment by Pequot Capital Management. The new company will be owned by Pequot Capital investors and Lucent Technologies, which will hold a majority ownership stake. Lucent says it will continue to support the new venture and provide ongoing access to research from the company's Bell Labs research and development unit.

On the eve of the financing announcement, LDR also…

Sony Signatures to Host Billy Joel Memorabilia Auction

Billy Joel has decided to clean out his warehouse. Next month, the veteran rocker's almost-30-year-old collection of musical instruments, recording equipment, and stage gear will be put up for public auction by Sony Signatures, his merchandising company. A portion of the gross from the "Billy Joel Memorabilia Auction" will be donated to VH1's Save the Music Foundation, according to Dan Cooper, Senior Vice President of Sony Signatures' music division.

Among the goodies to be sold is a Mini Moog synthesizer originally purchased by Joel back in 1971, when he was known as Billy Martin. The…

Monster Park

There's a certain commercial symbiosis between audio companies and public performance spaces. Tokyo has its Yamaha Hall; New York has its Avery Fisher Hall (1, 2), named for the hi-fi pioneer whose products were among the best available in the early 1960s.

Concert halls bespeak sophistication, but they don't have much advertising value. In the US, the real action is in sponsoring sports stadiums and the rowdy events held in them. So chalk up another one for the inimitable Noel Lee. On Monday, September 27, Lee's Monster Cable Products, Inc. announced that it had signed a four-year deal with…

European Union Ministers Disagree on Copyrights

Will the European Union extend copyright protection to new digital media? That question was still unresolved Friday, May 26, after extended talks between ministers of the EU's 15 member nations failed to produce a coherent result. Meeting in Brussels, the ministers have been discussing how best to protect the interests of copyright holders while allowing consumers adequate leeway to use and reproduce legally purchased music, movies, video, and computer software.

The draft of a new law entitled "Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Information Society," intended to reach a…

Digital Audio Amplification Reaching Critical Mass?

Although it first appeared as an infant technology more than 20 years ago, digital audio amplification may finally be coming of age. Recent months have seen announcements from several companies, including news of Apogee's DDX technology (see previous report) and Cirrus Logic who recently purchased their Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) digital amplification technology from B&W Loudspeakers (see previous report).

Texas Instruments has also been in the audio news this year with its acquisition of Toccata Technology, developer of the "Equibit" digital audio amplification approach used in…

Mergers for Music Giants?

Two years ago, music business insiders were predicting that the industry's "Big Five" would eventually become the "Big Four," or possibly the "Big Three."

These predictions are nearing fulfillment as the industry enters its fourth year of declining sales. Some major labels have cut their workforces by as much as 20% and are engaged in discussions to merge their operations to salvage what profits remain in the recorded music business.

In early September, Bertelsmann AG's Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) continued discussions of a joint venture with Warner Music Group (WMG), a division of…

Home Entertainment 2004—Day One

Today marked the opening of Home Entertainment 2004 East, held at Manhattan's Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue in Midtown. By long tradition, the first press conference in The Home Entertainment Show's busy press day has always been occupied by Sony and this year was no different. As we entered the Sony Suite, we were greeted by a wall display of over 2000 SACD titles—surely enough to be considered a down-payment on the critical mass that will be necessary for any high-rez format to survive. But any hopes that Sony would address SACD were quickly dashed in the press conference itself, which was…